Ability to Transform multiple layers without having to put them in a group layer

Problem: When multiple layers are highlighted, the Transform tool will only transform one of the layers. The same restriction applies when something on the canvas is selected. Transforming them all is only possible when the desired layers are all inside a Group.

Solution: Allow the Transform tool to transform multiple layers regardless of whether or not they are in a Group Layer.

Why: A common workaround is to put the layers inside a Group Layer. The issue with this workaround is that you need to disregard your preferred layer organization simply to transform multiple layers. You then have to put the layers back in their original place once you are done Transforming if you wish to retain your original layer setup. This can slow you down and throw you off if your workflow involves transforming a lot of layers in different locations. The slowing down is exponentially worse the more layers you have to transform.

In addition, if you want to transform canvas selections involving multiple layers, you have to cut and paste the selection for each layer one-by-one into a group layer and then merge these pastes back to their original layers once you’re done if you wish to preserve the original layer setup. Again, a slow process.

Someone might say, “Just merge the layers to make it easier,” but that’s not a route one can take if you need all your layers to remain intact.


I agree, this would be a great workflow improvement!

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Totally agree !


What kind of transforms do you want to do on multiple layers/content?

All of them ?

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I was thinking about them as individual layers, which is not the way to go.
Given that you can group them and apply a transform to the group, giving you the end-result you want (disregarding the inconvenience involved), one way would be for krita to create a temporary group containing those layers, apply the transform to the temporary group and then put the layers back where they came from.
It sounds doable but it’s probably more complicated than that and will need developer comment.


I have had thought about this before but I think group layers is a pretty nice solution. if no that … I guess using check boxes on the layers to indicate where you want to apply the transformation? I donno for sure what I would want here.

I feel there is some kind of limitation that prevents for doing so. For me, when switching from photoshop, that was a huge problem, but as far as i know, this isn’t something that’ll be changed anytime soon. I simply adjusted my workflow and i have no problem now, in fact group layers helps me being a bit more organised :stuck_out_tongue:

Still find myself having to export my project as a PSD to another art app that supports multi-layer transform, then importing back to Krita. Really inconvenient. :c

Why would you do that? Is putting them in a group and back less convenient? What is your workflow?

For me, it is less convenient. My workflow is, I draw cartoon characters. I have the designs organized by lineart, shading and lighting, and base colors. Depending on the complexity of the design and the character’s various colors, the environment lighting, and number of costume variations, the total layers can sometimes add up to a lot, and I need each layer to stay intact as I make different versions of a design. (Character with costume A, B, C, in daylight environments, night environments, etc.)

The problem arrives when I have to adjust characters’ proportions because as I color and shade, I start to get a fresh new perspective on the look of the character. The head might start to look too big, or the hands or pieces of armor an incorrect size. Say I want to adjust the size of the arms or chest. Not only would I have to adjust the lineart and colors for the arms, but also adjust the layers for the different armors, its shadings, shirts, environment lighting, etc. since every design variation needs to have the correctly adjusted proportions.

Some layers are ungrouped, others grouped, sometimes I move them around for organization’s sake. I don’t have time to use my previously described workaround to transform them all if what I want to transform isn’t in the correct group layer. And if I did, I would literally have to jot down down a note listing my layers to remember the original organization before I have to account for this current technical limitation, do the transform, and put everything back to its original place.

It’s either that, or export the PSD to another app that has this feature, do the transformation there relatively quickly, and then import back to Krita without the need to mess with my layer organization.

When dealing with an approaching deadline, the choice to export and import is easier and a more efficient use of time. Implementing this feature would save me the trouble of having to rely on another app to perform this step.

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I also like to have various shade layers separate, and things like line art and some other effects that need to be on top of both shading and lines are typically not in the same group.

Any kind of mind change on proportions/positions leads to a lot of extra work, so it sure would help if the transform tool supported multiple selected layers in such cases.

Similar for filters btw, but at least it’s easy to apply the same settings to the various layers one by one, but still annoying extra work since you can’t really preview the result properly and have to guesstimate what adjustments you want to do to the selected area.

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Being able to transform selections across multiple layers would be a killer feature. It’s one of the things that Clip Studio can do but Photoshop can not. I believe for Photoshop there might be a script for that, and it just remembers your selection shape on the canvas, then goes over all layers the user had selected and transforms them in the way that the user did for the first layer, if that makes sense. Basically repeating the same selection and transform across multiple layers. This would be a very good feature because you could transform small parts of your linework, color, lighting layers at the same. Imagine changing the size of a character’s hand for example…

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+1 for this one. It’d be a huge improvement for people who draw in cartoon/manga style.

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It should be technically possible now, it just needs someone to implement it. I cannot do that because I’m working on resource rewrite. It’s not a beginner’s job but kind of medium, with help from Dmitry and me. And yes, lots of people ask for this, so it would be really a great feature to have.